Sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, 37, of Middle River, pleaded guilty this week to one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of racketeering, two counts of robbery, one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation, and four counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.

Jenkins joined the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) on February 20, 2003 and was promoted to Sergeant on November 20, 2013. On June 13, 2016, Jenkins became the Officer in Charge of the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF,) a specialized unit within the Operational Investigation Division of the BPD.

According to the plea agreement, Jenkins schemed to steal money, property, and narcotics by detaining victims, entering residences, conducting traffic stops, and swearing out false search warrant affidavits. In addition, Jenkins prepared and submitted false official incident and arrest reports, reports of property seized, and charging documents. The false reports concealed the fact that Jenkins and his co-conspirators had stolen money, property, and narcotics from individuals.

According to his plea agreement, Jenkins admitted that he participated in seven separate robberies between May 2011 and August 2016. Jenkins also stole dirt bikes from individuals who were riding them illegally on city streets and then sold them through an associate.

In addition to the robberies, Jenkins also admitted to stealing 4-5 boxes, containing approximately 12 pounds, of high-grade marijuana that had been intercepted by law enforcement from the U.S. mail, as well as prescription medicines that he had stolen from someone looting a pharmacy during the April 2015 riots.

Jenkins admitted he gave another party the drugs he stole from detainees and arrestees, including cocaine, marijuana and heroin. That individual was able to sell the drugs and shared the proceeds with Jenkins. In total, Jenkins was paid $200,000 to $250,000 in drug proceeds.

In an effort to conceal his true identity, Jenkins told detainees that he was a federal task force officer, which he was not, and told his co-defendants to identify him as the U.S. Attorney.

While other parties were detained in connection with these crimes, Jenkins directed the defendants to “keep their mouths shut” and to “stick to the story” in an effort to obstruct justice.

According to the plea agreement, Jenkins admitted that he routinely submitted false and fraudulent individual overtime reports, thereby defrauding the Baltimore Police Department and the citizens of the State of Maryland. On these reports, Jenkins falsely certified that he worked his entire regularly assigned shifts, when he did not, and that he worked additional hours for which he received overtime pay, when he had not worked all and in some cases any of those overtime hours. Jenkins also admitted that he submitted false and fraudulent overtime reports on behalf of his co-defendants.

The plea agreement provides for a minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment.

According to their plea agreements, Hendrix admitted to participating in three robberies from March to August, 2016. Ward admitted to participating in four robberies from February through August, 2016. Hendrix and Ward also admitted that they were armed with their Baltimore Police Department service firearms during the robberies. Individual victims of the robberies were physically restrained, and the defendants wrote false incident reports and other documents in order to conceal their criminal conduct and otherwise obstruct justice.

In on instance, on February 17, 2016, Ward and one of his co-defendants stole $500 from an arrested suspect. Ward then authored a false Baltimore Police Department incident report to conceal the robbery.

Hendrix and Ward admitted that on March 22, 2016, they and two of their co-defendants stole more than $200,000 from a safe they found in the basement of a house they were searching. The four co-defendants then divided the money, and Hendrix and Ward received $20,000 each.

Similarly, on June 24, 2016, while executing a search warrant in a home, Hendrix stole money and later gave a portion to Ward. On August 24, 2016, Hendrix stole money from an arrested suspect and then gave a portion of the cash to Ward.

Hendrix and Ward also admitted that they and their co-defendants routinely submitted false individual overtime reports, defrauding the Baltimore Police Department and the public. Ward, Hendrix and their co-conspirators falsely certified that they worked their entire regularly assigned shifts, or overtime hours, when they did not. Hendrix and Ward also admitted that they submitted false overtime reports on behalf of their co-defendants, at their co-defendants’ direction, and that their co-defendants submitted false overtime reports on their behalf in return.

Hendrix and Ward admitted that the practice at the police department’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) was that if some of the GTTF members made a gun arrest, all members of the GTTF, regardless of whether they had actually participated in the arrest, would submit individual overtime reports, as if they did, and receive salary and overtime. The GTTF was a specialized unit within the Operational Investigation Division of the Baltimore Police Department, whose members were to track and trace recovered firearms in order to identify and suppress the possession, purchasing, and trafficking of illegal firearms within Baltimore City, and assist with the investigation and prosecution of firearms-related offenses.

Sentencing for Hendrix has been scheduled for February 20, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.. Sentencing for Ward has been scheduled for February 21, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.